BANGKOK—The race to rescue a dozen boys and their soccer coach from a rain-flooded Thailand cave complex is turning into a wrenching technical challenge just to find them.
As heavy seasonal rains continue, specialists from Thailand, the U.S. and Britain are poring over maps and assessing infrared images, while cave divers struggle underground. Oil-company engineers have joined the mission, drilling into the cave to further the search.
So far, the elements have the upper hand.
The boys, ranging in age from 11 to 16, and their coach, 25, entered the Tham Luang cave network in the country’s far north after their Wild Boars team played a match Saturday. After the mother of one boy raised an alarm, searchers found bicycles, backpacks and soccer cleats left at the cave entrance.
The 13 are believed to be stuck somewhere in the 10-kilometer-long complex’s lightless undulating web of passageways and chambers, lacking food and water, cut off by flash floods triggered by torrential rain.
The search has transfixed Thailand and tested the military government.
Cave-diving experts from Belgium, Britain, Laos and Germany have converged on the site to help out Thai Navy SEAL teams. On Thursday, 32 American soldiers from the U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii arrived. Other specialists include engineers from Thai oil-drilling company PTT Exploration and Production .
But rescuers have run into technical obstacles: The thick limestone limits the usefulness of thermal imaging equipment in locating survivors. The area hasn’t been fully surveyed, said Krit Sawatmitr, head of the provincial irrigation department, so they must rely on local knowledge to decide where to place the pumps working to drain water from the cave.
It is the peak of the rainy season in northern Thailand. Much of the Tham Luang complex is flooded from June to October, and a five-hour rainstorm Wednesday pushed water levels to the highest level since the rescue mission began.
On Thursday rescuers drilled a hole in the side of the mountain, hoping to drain water faster, but it appeared to make little difference as heavy rains hit again. The pumps, some 20 in all, can’t remove the water as fast as it comes in. Early Friday, water began to approach the cave entrance.
Divers have made little headway. Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda said passageways are so tight that they can only use one oxygen tank at a time, limiting the distance they can cover. Mud and debris add to the difficulty.
“We will keep up our effort no matter how tired we are,” provincial Gov. Narongsak Osatanakorn told reporters Friday. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha also visited the site Friday.
Anmar Mirza of the National Cave Rescue Commission in the U.S. suggested that the best course in such circumstances is to search for alternative entrances.
The Thai rescue teams are now attempting just that, using drones equipped with infrared cameras to hunt for access points along a thickly-forested ridge known as the Monk’s Series, which British experts identified as a route the boys might have taken.
So far, none of the shafts identified have proven suitable. One promising prospect dead-ended after 20 meters. Friday, two members the British team climbed down a crevice they hoped would provide access.
Rescuers are also attempting to reach a large underground chamber called Pattaya Beach, where the boys and their coach might have found some relief. Teams are attempting to bore small holes above this and other chambers through which they can pass fiber-optic cables to survey the interior.
The government has taken relatives to a single location as their ordeal continues. Buddhist monks held a prayer ceremony Thursday near the entrance to the complex. Other people in the predominantly Buddhist country made offerings to the spirits in a bid to speed the team’s safe return.
Write to James Hookway at james.hookway@wsj.com
Bagikan Berita Ini
